Dance of Deception
by xiao32615987
Summary: When you make a big lie it has a habit of becoming more and more complex and this makes it more likely for everything to come out into the open.
1. Chapter 1

_A brand new story, this one I am currently in the process of writing, so it'll take longer for each new chapter. So, please review each new chapter as it come up, If I get reviews then I'll keep putting up new chapters._

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"How do I look?" She asked; stepping forward and giving them a small twirl.

The transformation was stunning; the long dress flowed as she turned, the material floating through the air in a manner that was strangely slow, as though gravity had lessened its hold over the folds of the skirt. The whole dress hung delicately from her shoulders; loose fitting and yet it complimented her form, seeming to enhance the grace and beauty of it as she finished her turn and faced them; gravity catching up with the skirt and bringing the hem back down to her ankles. The dress was in a shade between red and pink, and went perfectly with the short and bright pink hair upon her head. As Aelita faced them she grinned somewhat sheepishly, almost uncomfortably.

The three boys stood silent for a moment, Odd being the first to speak, "Looks great, Princess." He gave a huge grin and Aelita's expression seemed to relax a little; Ulrich nodded vigorously in agreement, adding a 'thumbs up'.

"Jeremie?" She inquired in a voice that was polite and innocent.

Jeremie still stood for a moment, aware that the others were looking at him; but his mind was still unable to process the question. Aelita looked different… well, no she didn't; but Jeremie saw her in a new way, a wonderful way. He could barely believe that he hadn't noticed that she could be quite this… this…

"Beautiful." He gasped; his mouth speaking the word even before his mind had formed it. She was now looking at him directly and he felt his cheeks burn, he hadn't meant to be quite so direct with his compliment. Aelita looked away, colour filling her own face; but Jeremie was relieved to see that she was smiling.

"Did Yumi help you pick it?" Ulrich inquired; after a pause which, to Jeremie, seemed to last an age.

"She didn't need my help." Yumi said; standing by the doorway to Aelita's room, which had previously been closed as they had waited for her. "The moment she saw this one, she insisted on it and no other." Yumi smiled at this point and the blush on Aelita's face became a deeper pink.

"Well, it was a good choice; eh Einstein?" Odd added; clapping Jeremie cheerfully on the shoulder. Jeremie just managed to give a nervous nod; and cursed himself inside his own mind for being so obvious.

"Well, I suppose we'd better put it away now." Yumi said, moving to stand next to Aelita, "You won't need it till Saturday."

"Yeah, we'd better go too." Said Ulrich; a note of irony in his voice. "Jim'll have a fit if we're late for PE again; but it looks like you girls get off easy."

"Oh yeah," A sarcastic smile played on Yumi's face as she spoke. "Who would have though that the water pipe would burst and flood the girl's changing rooms," She sighed dramatically, the sarcasm heavy in her voice as well. "It's such a shame."

"I told you, you should've launched a return to the past after that;" Odd butted in, directing his comment at Jeremie. "But no; 'No one noticed, so what would be the point?' you said."

"Oh shut up Odd, it's not that bad." Ulrich said; and began to walk down the corridor, turning for a moment to say, "Come on guys, let's go; and I guess we'll see you two later."

"Goodbye." Yumi called after him; adding a small wave to Odd as he walked away.

"See you, Jeremie." Aelita said pleasantly; and she smiled at him in a way which made his stomach squirm.

"See you, Aelita." He managed to respond, smiling weakly back; before setting off after Odd and Ulrich.

------

As they left the dormitories, making their way across the courtyard; Odd said something which made Jeremie start, "You know, I bet you two will look pretty cute together on Saturday."

"What? Who?" Jeremie said quickly and instantly regretted it; he could see Odd's smirk grow.

"You… and… Aelita," Odd spoke slowly, as though he were speaking to someone who didn't understand his language. "At… the… dance… on Saturday… you remember?"

"Well… err…" Jeremie bumbled. Of course he remembered, but it was Odd who had first made him really imagine it. He thought about himself and Aelita, in her beautiful new dress; how they would be on the dance-floor and hold each other. He felt his cheeks burn slightly; something which was only enhanced by the sly look Ulrich was giving him and the happy expression on Odd's face.

"Don't tell me you haven't asked her yet?" Ulrich asked; Jeremie knew that both of them were teasing him for it.

"Well… err… no; not exactly." He responded; he had, of course, though about it frequently; and even tried on several occasions; but the time had never been right. Seeing the looks on the faces of the other two; Ulrich's something between amusement and exasperation and Odd's of sheer glee; Jeremie quickly decided to change tack and addressed Ulrich directly. "What about you? Have you asked Yumi to the dance yet?"

Ulrich's expression changed instantly to that of someone who has just been caught very off-guard, and the hint of a blush even started to appear on his cheeks.

"Th-that's not important." Ulrich spluttered defensively.

To Jeremie's relief; Odd took up on this instantly and began pestering and teasing Ulrich. No longer in the firing line, Jeremie allowed himself to fall a pace behind the other two; he had decided that no matter what, he would ask Aelita before the end of the day and promptly lost himself in planning exactly how to do so.

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She slipped out of her room, closing the door as quietly as she could; flinching slightly at the click it made. The corridor was dark, and it would be almost impossible to see someone else in it should they happen to be out on a wander as well; fortunately, Aelita knew this corridor well enough to know how to walk down it quietly. She was also prepared for if she did meet someone; she had already changed into her nightwear and as such could simply claim to be going to the toilet if someone asked.

It took five minutes to make it; looking to check for Jim around every corner, closing every door so as not to make a sound and tiptoeing down the stairs (which froze her toes even through her thick socks). She had made it down without any trouble though; she always did. She tapped lightly on Jeremie's door, hoping that he hadn't fallen asleep. The door opened just a couple of seconds later and Jeremie was standing before her, giving her a broad smile which she returned in kind; he too was in his blue pyjamas, but he still let her inside.

After sneaking around in the darkness, the light in Jeremie's room was surprising, and it took a moment for Aelita's eyes to adjust to it; not that it mattered much as both waited for Jeremie to close the door before speaking.

"Good morning." Jeremie said, just after the 'click' announced that the door had indeed been closed.

"Good morning." She responded, a quick glance at the clock indicating that it was actually half past one. It made her smile; she and Jeremie were often up at the early hours of the morning, not even having to go to school with little or no sleep would stop them, they had grown used to it.

There was an unusual pause as they both simply stood looking at each other; it was Aelita who was the one to speak first, "Shall we get to work then? How much progress have you made?"

"Huh, what?" Jeremie asked distractedly; there was something rather unusual about this, something in the way Jeremie was acting wasn't right. He was usually the one to get straight to work.

"You know, the Skidbladnir, our ship, making sure the programming is complete?"

"Oh yeah, that." Jeremie's response was uncharacteristic; Aelita had never seen him act so strangely. She watched him walk over to his desk and begin shuffling about pieces of paper and various computing magazines; he acted as though his mind were somewhere else entirely, rather than in this room.

Aelita was suddenly reminded of what Ulrich had told her earlier; Jeremie had managed to hit his head as they were playing football, because he hadn't really been paying attention to the game; Ulrich had said it was as if he were daydreaming rather than playing. And Aelita saw it again now; Jeremie was shuffling about various items on his desk, but was failing in making it any clearer.

"Jeremie, is something wrong?" She asked, trying to keep most of the concern out of her voice. He turned to look at her; but his face held an expression as though he had only just noticed she were there, "It's just that… you seem distracted."

He sighed, and put down the papers he was holding. "There's nothing wrong," he said, "I've just had a few things on my mind." Aelita sympathised, she too had a few things to think about; over the last few days Yumi had been pestering her to ask Jeremie to the dance, but Aelita just hadn't been able to pluck up the courage to do so.

Jeremie moved a few steps closer to her, such that they were standing face to face, before he continued, "There's something I want to ask you." Aelita's mind raced; she saw the way he was fidgeting nervously with his hands and the fact that he wouldn't meet her eyes for more than a fraction of a second; and she knew what he was about to say. Her pulse quickened.

"Well, would you… like to... go to the dance… with me?" Jeremie blushed violently as he said it, and Aelita could feel her own face going red.

"I'd love to." She responded, smiling broadly.

"Great." Jeremie scratched the back of his head, a large smile spreading across his face; a smile which Aelita loved and gave her a wonderful feeling every time.

"Err, Jeremie… did you mean what you said earlier, when I showed you the dress?" Aelita asked her own question not quite as nervously as Jeremie, but nervous all the same. She knew it was stupid, but she wondered whether he truly thought she was beautiful or was just being polite, and it had bothered her all day.

"Of course." He responded in a level voice that Aelita knew she could trust; and he looked her in the eyes even though his blush intensified.

"Thank you." She said; and leaned towards him, intending to give him a quick kiss on the cheek as a show of thanks; she knew it would only make him blush more, if that were possible, but she liked that. However, she was interrupted halfway through the motion as the door burst open and the two of them were blinded by a bright light.

"Stones! Belpois!" A gruff voice shouted from behind the light, and Aelita's heart sank; it was a voice that was unmistakeably Jim's.

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	2. Chapter 2

_Fantastic, all these nice reviews; thank you. Please keep them coming if you like it, or tell me anything you don't like. All constructive comments are welcome._

_I do like cookies, although I think I may have eaten a few too many today. Otherwise I am finding time to write (to my own surprise) so I should be able to update this as often as I hoped._

_A note to all those reading this on the other website it calls home (you know who you are and where it is) It should be updated there within the next two days, if all goes well._

_Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy this._

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"I'm very disappointed in both of you." The Principle said, using the stern voice he applied to anyone other than his own daughter; his thick moustache twitching as he spoke. "Breaking the school rules is bad enough, but to break the same one twice in a week is almost beyond belief."

Principle Delmus stared down at the pair of them. After Aelita had been escorted back to her room by Jim, both had received quite a surprise when he had taken them before breakfast to this office; an office they knew better than they should; where Aelita and Jeremie found themselves stood in front of Delmus' desk, with Jim standing guard behind them as though they were captured fugitives. The Principle always liked to look down on pupils he was punishing, to emphasise who was in charge; another thing they were all too familiar with.

Jeremie focused on staring at the floor. He knew Aelita was doing the same, but didn't dare to glance at her; when dealing with Delmus it was often best to keep quite and let him say his bit, there was little else you could do.

"Behaviour such as this is absolutely not acceptable, and especially from our two brightest students." Delmus continued; he liked leaving pauses, it always gave a moment for the statement to sink in. "You're are intelligent enough to know that the girls and boys are on different floors for a reason; which makes your actions completely inappropriate."

"But we-" Jeremie found himself blurting out before his mind had even contemplated what he was about to say. He was saved the need to think of something as the Principle simply cut across him.

"And don't tell me you were only studying!" For the first time his voice wasn't level, it held a hint of anger; something which was rare for the Principle to show, and always held some fear for Jeremie. "I have worked at this school for many years and I have heard that excuse many times, and once before from yourselves. You were not studying at that hour of the morning."

Jeremie didn't want to say anymore; but Aelita spoke up beside him, "It's true, that's all we were doing. Honestly."

Jim let out a single, short, harsh laugh. "It didn't look like studying to me." He said; sounding quite jovial; if there was on thing that made Jim happy, it was catching students who were misbehaving.

Jeremie realised what Jim must've seen; Aelita leaning toward him definitely did not look anything like studying. A heat filled his face as he realised what the Principle and Jim thought they'd caught, and he knew he must be blushing. This time he did glance at Aelita and saw that her face too had gone a shade of red.

"It doesn't matter what you were doing;" the Principle said, his voice back to its calm yet stern tone. "The fact it that you have simply flouted the school rules and must be punished severely."

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"Yumi," Ulrich began; his voice slightly shaky. "I wondered… If you'd want to… to go to the dance with me?" He paused, "No, that won't do at all; I sound like Jeremie."

He gave a shaky laugh and wondered if Jeremie had actually managed to ask Aelita yet or not. It was a daft idea, those two would probably enjoy working away at the supercomputer in the factory more than dancing; come to think of it, could either of them actually dance? He laughed again, this time it actually sounded like a laugh; as he imagined how Jeremie might dance.

Then again, another thought intruded, Jeremie would probably have an easier time; he wasn't the one hiding behind the cafeteria practicing how to ask Yumi to go with him. With Jeremie it wouldn't matter how he asked, Ulrich knew Aelita would say yes in a heartbeat; but Yumi was a different question. She was the one, after all, who said that they should 'just be friends'; he felt a little twitch of anger at the thought; did she even like him, and how would she respond if he told her exactly how he thought they should be?

He shook his head, clearing his thoughts, there was no need to worry about that now; he should focus on asking her to the dance first. He cleared his throat, "Yumi," Ulrich said, trying to speak smoothly, "Would you go to the dance with me?"

"I'd love to." Ulrich span round the moment he heard the voice; his heart seemed to jump into his throat. He knew the voice wasn't Yumi's, but it had still caught him completely off guard.

"Odd!" He exclaimed, in a voice that was half filled with shock and half with anger. His friend was standing right behind him, leaning nonchalantly on the wall of the cafeteria; his face was a single huge, mischievous grin; something that was not unusual.

"How long have you been standing there?" Ulrich growled; he never liked being caught unaware; especially when he was expressing his emotions, he was supposed to be the tough one of the group.

"Long enough." Odd responded, giving him a playful little smirk; Ulrich had to restrain himself from wiping it off his face. "You know, I could give you a few pointers."

"If I want relationship advice from you; it'll be when I'm trying to break up with someone." Ulrich said savagely, it felt better to get back at Odd; although they were friends, he could be very annoying at times, and they both knew that Odd couldn't hold a relationship with a girl for more than a week.

"At least I know how to ask them out in the first place;" Odd continued, not put off at all, "And you're right; you do sound like Einstein."

"What are you doing here anyway?"

"I didn't want you to miss breakfast." Odd put on an innocent looking face, which fooled Ulrich not at all; and this time he smirked back at Odd.

"Liar."

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They were in the cafeteria for not even five minutes before Yumi joined them; taking a seat opposite Odd, who was proceeding to drop food on the table around. To Ulrich's annoyance, she sat beside him; and Odd looked up from his pile of food, much bigger than anyone else's, just long enough to flash a smirk and a wink across the table at Ulrich. It made him feel slightly uncomfortable to sit next to her like this; but he didn't show it; and, to his disappointment, neither did she.

"Hi guys." She said pleasantly; and the both responded in kind, Odd muffled with his mouth full of food and Ulrich simply grunting something which sounded like 'hi'. "Glad to see everyone's in such a happy mood today." she added sarcastically, "What's the problem?"

"Nothing." Ulrich lied, although the truth was he didn't know what was wrong; it was just that everything about the way Yumi was acting annoyed him immensely. He stabbed a sausage savagely with his fork, only to have it fall in half as he lifted it.

"Okay." Yumi said slowly, glancing over at Odd. "So, where are Jeremie and Aelita?"

Ulrich didn't respond, he was too occupied in trying to get the remaining halves of his sausage to hold into the fork; so Odd was forced to stop eating for long enough to speak.

"They're in the principle's office." He said simply, before returning to his food.

"The principle's office? Why?" Yumi sounded surprised, and Ulrich knew why; it was not often for Jeremie and Aelita to get into trouble like that.

"Because Jim caught Aelita in Jeremie's room last night." Ulrich responded; most of the school knew by now, not only because gossip spread fast at Kadic but also because Jim had woken up half the landing with his shouting.

Yumi groaned, "Not again, those two are going to be in serious trouble this time. What were they doing anyway?"

"One guess."

"The supercomputer," she sighed, Ulrich nodded. It seemed that all Jeremie and Aelita ever did was work on the supercomputer and fighting Xana; Ulrich sometimes wondered how they managed to have fun, but they both seemed to enjoy nothing more. It amazed him, what were the odds of finding two people so alike who knew each other?

"Speaking of which." Odd spoke up, "Look who's just arrived."

Ulrich didn't even bother looking round, he knew who it was. Sure enough, just seconds later, Jeremie and Aelita walked up to the table and sat, taking the two places next to Odd. Both looked absolutely down, staring at the floor, they didn't even greet their friends; and both were noticeable by the lack of trays and food.

"How did it go?" Ulrich enquired, doing his best to sound casual; despite the fact that he feared the worst.

"Well, you know the Principle," Jeremie started in a deadpan, expressionless voice. "He made his usual little speeches about how disappointed he was in us-"

"How we were a blemish on the school's reputation-" Aelita added.

"How our behaviour was completely terrible-" Jeremie continued.

"Unacceptable-"

"Inappropriate." Jeremie finished; and the two exchanged a look and a smile which sent Odd into a string of jokes, picking on them in the same way he liked to pick on Ulrich and Yumi… well, it would've; had he been looking.

"So, what's going to happen?" Ulrich asked impatiently.

"We've been given four hours detention every day for a week." Jeremie responded seriously; both of them had stopped smiling.

"That's it?" Ulrich was surprised, Principle Delmus was quite strict; and detention seemed a bit lenient given the circumstances. "We thought you'd be suspended at the least."

"Nope, just detention." Jeremie said happily, smiling broadly. "The Principle said he was being lenient because… er… how did he say it?"

"Because," Aelita chipped in; an equally broad smile on her face. "We're the 'best two students he has ever had'."

Ulrich was quite honestly astonished, but pleased at the same time. He knew what level of trouble they'd be in if Aelita and Jeremie had been suspended; Aelita had nowhere else to go for a start, then they'd have to fight Xana without them for a while, which was impossible.

"Sometimes I don't believe you two." Yumi said, distracting everyone's attention away from Jeremie and Aelita; there was a clear note of anger in her voice. "Do you realise how close we just came to disaster? If Delmus had suspended you, I'm sure you know what would've happened."

The smiles had been wiped from Jeremie and Aelita's faces; and Ulrich could tell from their expressions that they felt like they were up in front of the Principle again.

"Hey Yumi; let up." Ulrich said, in his best calming voice; but Yumi was having none of it.

"Be quiet Ulrich;" she snapped at him, before returning to scowl at the other two. "How can you sit here and take it so lightly? You've got to change this before you do get suspended." Jeremie opened his mouth to speak, but Yumi got the point before he had even started, "I know you have to work on ways to fight Xana; but can you break a few less school rules in the process? For a few weeks, whilst Jim calms down, you two have got to go to bed at a decent hour; stay in your own rooms; oh, and no more late night trips to the factory."

The groups sat silent for a moment; even Odd had stopped eating just to listen to Yumi's rant. Yumi wasn't often like this, but she was the oldest of the group; and had some quite motherly qualities.

"Yumi's right." Aelita said, after the pause. "We've got to start being more careful."

Jeremie nodded slowly; "I suppose." he turned to her, "Come on, we'd best get ready for school." And the two of them stood to leave.

"Hang on, aren't you going to have breakfast?" Ulrich asked as they began to walk away.

Jeremie turned for a moment, and said, "No. Someone took our portions." He said it with a note of bitterness in his voice; and Ulrich instantly knew why as Odd gave him a guilty grin.

------

It must have been ten minutes after Jeremie and Aelita left; ten minutes that the remaining three spent in complete silence… Well other than the sound of Odd eating three full breakfasts in a rather noisy manner. Ten minutes until Ulrich finally decided to say what was on his mind.

"You know," He said to Yumi, "You didn't have to be so harsh with them."

"I guess not," Yumi responded, and Ulrich was glad to hear that she sounded genuinely sorry. "But they've got to understand."

"I know, but they are the most intelligent kids in the school. Surely they've figured it out for themselves."

"They can be pretty stupid sometimes."

"I guess so." Ulrich smiled; he they had known Jeremie and Aelita to do some pretty daft things, mostly when the other was in trouble with on of Xana's plots; they could get quite reckless then. "We'd better be off as well, in about five minutes the bell will ring and we-"

Ulrich was interrupted by the school bell, ringing out its loud, shrill noise across the school. He frowned, checking the clock on his mobile; there was no doubt about it, the bell was five minutes early. He exchanged a puzzled glance with Yumi, and a quick look told him that the cafeteria was filled with others doing the same thing; many bemused looking students checking their watches. Odd had looked up from the remnants of his food again, to listen to the still ringing bell- wait… the bell shouldn't still be ringing should it?

It seemed to hit all three at the same time, what they were hearing, and they all said in unison "Fire alarm."

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	3. Chapter 3

_I'm sorry It's been such a long time; but I kind of lost the will to write. It's back now... mostly._

_It might be two or more weeks before the next chapter; I've just seen the end of series 4, and it was a good ending, but I'm worried that my ideas might simply stop; and, for the moment, they have. But we shall see; and either way, I will finish this. __I won't say any more on the subject of the end of series four because I know it hasn't been broadcast everywhere yet (I don't know where it has been broadcast)._

_To all those who asked about the fire alarm, read and find out._

* * *

It was in the process of leaving the cafeteria that they were ambushed. They had barely taken two steps out of the door when Jeremie and Aelita were set upon by two girls; girls who they knew, girls from the year below them, girls who had been lying in wait behind a nearby bin for their targets to approach. 

The moment Jeremie had seen two things rushing towards them he had instinctively stepped forwards, expecting some form of Xana attack and ready to defend Aelita; but it was not so. One of the girls carried a camera, the other a microphone. It was the school reporters, Milly and Tamiya.

"Jeremie, Aelita!" Milly cried, as though she had not been expecting to see them. She was the smaller of the two, with bright red hair tied back into two small, low pigtails. "We've been looking for you."

"Oh really?" Jeremie answered dryly, he knew what they were up to; they would do anything for a big news story, a 'scoop' that they could put in the school newspaper; not that it was much of a newspaper, more like a gossip column, not that he'd ever say that to their faces of course.

"Yes, we heard you two had been taken into the principle's office, what was it about?" She promptly pushed the microphone into Jeremie's face, and the camera was focused upon him; fortunately he had experience in dealing with this before.

"It was nothing important." He lied; unfortunately he was prevented from making up a reason for them being there as Milly shot in straight away with another question.

"But we heard that Jim caught Aelita in your room at two in the morning. Is it true? What were you doing?" She asked it enthusiastically and Jeremie cursed inside his head; she had known all along, typical. There was also an embarrassed twinge somewhere inside his mind, people had been talking about them and he knew what they'd probably been saying.

"That's none of your business!" Aelita said irritably, stepping forward; finding both the camera and the microphone pushed into her face almost instantly. "Maybe you two should try seeking out the truth rather than simply spreading foul rumours and gossip."

"Hey!" Tamiya joined in. Lowering the camera she came to Milly's defence, who had been visibly upset by what Aelita had said. "There's no need to be so rude about it, what's your problem? Are you trying to hide something?"

"Just leave us alone." Was Aelita's only response, and she promptly took hold of Jeremie's hand and gave it a sharp tug; he got the message quickly and they both began walking quickly towards the dormitories, leaving the two reporters behind. He knew the need to leave, Tamiya was beginning to become suspicious of them, and that was never good; a vague suspicion, even about something as insignificant as this, could lead to discovery of the factory, the supercomputer or even Aelita's false identity; and that would be a complete disaster for the whole group.

"Hey!" A voice called from behind them. It was Tamiya, but neither of them stopped walking. "Is it true that you two are going out with each other?"

The question struck Jeremie by surprise even though he had been half-expecting it, or something like it, to be said given the circumstances. He felt Aelita quickly release his hand; he had barely noticed that she was still holding it till now. He glanced in her direction and saw that she hand placed both hands firmly in the pockets of her dark red dress. She had also taken that chance to look at him, and their eyes met for a moment; a short, uncomfortable moment which seemed to stretch to several minutes, before both quickly and deliberately looked away, staring in opposite directions.

When their eyes had met Jeremie had felt a strange distance between them, emotional rather than physical, and he knew that he wanted them to be closer. He had also noticed that Aelita was blushing… no, more than that; her cheeks were glowing red such that he was sure they would radiate heat. The information caused his stomach to squirm in a familiar manner that was both uncomfortable and not so at the same time; and he realised as he had looked away that he had been blushing too.

---------

They reached Jeremie's room in silence and Aelita stood back as Jeremie unlocked the door. Though neither had spoken during the short walk, both had been almost completely occupied with their own thoughts.

Aelita's own mind had been focusing on Tamiya's suggestion that the two of them were more than friend's, she knew that many people thought that this was the case but it still surprised her to hear the opinion expressed so frankly. She had difficulty imagining herself and Jeremie as a couple, even though she was sure it was what she wanted; but did he want it as well? The way he blushed when their eyes met seemed to indicate so but she still couldn't get over her own doubts; Jeremie was a difficult person to figure out, sometimes it seemed that he liked her but at others… well, Aelita didn't really know what he thought of her and the thought of asking seemed too embarrassing.

Jeremie opened his door and gestured for Aelita to enter first, breaking the train of her thoughts. She muttered a 'Thanks'; still feeling an uncomfortable distance between the two of them; and entered the room.

Jeremie's room was much the same as it always was; fairly tidy were it not for the scattering of computer related books, magazines and paper full of handwritten notes and prominent in the room was a large amount of expensive computer equipment, which had probably not been turned off in the last year. Aelita was unsure why she had even entered; she knew that she had to go to her room to collect her own school things before the bell rang, it would've given her a few quiet minutes to think. She also wanted to have a shower, even though there wasn't enough time to do so; Jim had woken them up so early that the Principle wasn't even ready and they had had to wait in his office for him.

She had known these things and yet she had followed Jeremie to his room all the same, and now she watched him quietly as he took his old green bag and began piling objects in; books, papers, pens and his laptop, something he never went anywhere without. Something in the back of Aelita's mind told her that she ought to say something, yet it wouldn't tell her what to say, so she cast around for a subject and her eyes fell on a pair of objects on the bed which had not been there last night.

"Hey, what are these?" She asked, picking one up to examine it. It was a shiny metal cylinder, like a drinks can, but longer and much heavier; one end was rounded, dome shaped, but the other had a conical, red plastic cover, the tip of which was formed into a ring which seemed large enough for someone to place a finger through.

"No! Wait!" Jeremie cried suddenly and Aelita froze; she had just placed a finger through the ring and was about to attempt to pull the cover off. She turned to look at him, surprised; it wasn't like Jeremie to shout at her like that, unless she was about to do something really stupid. It was a moment before she realised that opening the lid of a strange container probably wasn't the smartest thing to do; so till then she satisfied herself with a puzzled look in Jeremie's direction.

"You might not want to do that." Jeremie said calmly, a strangely relieved look on his face. He walked over to her and picked up the other object from the bed, identical to the one Aelita was holding, and held it in front of her face. "It's something I made to help us fight Xana."

"What is it?" She responded; still confused, though now she held the object carefully in one hand.

"A smoke grenade." Aelita's expression turned into one of comprehension as she realised, to her embarrassment, that pulling the top off of one of those would've been a very bad thing indeed. Jeremie nodded, a wry smile appearing on his face.

"Where did you get these from? Did you make them?"

"Yeah, it's pretty simple." Jeremie grinned, as he always did when he was explaining something that was in fact quite complicated. "I just figured that we don't really stand a chance against Xana's spectres or people he's taken control of; so if we've got one of these with us we might be able to confuse them long enough to escape."

"Good thinking." Aelita said happily, smiling back at Jeremie; causing his grin to grow even further. "Does it work?"

"Well, I haven't had a chance to test them yet, it's difficult to do so." He responded, becoming more serious. "The first chance we'll have is when we have to use them for real. So…" He dropped the grenade nonchalantly into his bag, held at his side by a single shoulder strap.

They stood and smiled at each other for a moment, Aelita moving the second smoke grenade around in her hands, trying to imagine throwing it at an oncoming spectre. How like Jeremie it was to be so inventive, she thought; it was one of the things she liked about him, and something she owed her life to many times over.

"STONES! BELPOIS!"

Aelita span instantly to face the door and, just as she expected, Jim was standing in the open doorway with a triumphant look on his face.

"Do you two not remember what the Principle just told you?" He asked; his voice unnecessarily loud.

"But Jim, we're allowed to be here." Jeremie responded, perfectly calmly. "Students are allowed in the dormitories during the daytime, and we don't have to be in lessons yet."

Now it was Jeremie's turn to look triumphant, whilst Jim looked crestfallen; it was clear he had been hoping to catch them up to no good.

"Well…" He said slowly and quietly; clearly trying to recover himself, he never did like being outsmarted by students. "You two should be off to class now anyway, the bell will be going in five minutes; and if you're late you'll be in trouble."

"Well, we wouldn't be running late if someone hadn't woken us up so early in the morning." Aelita blurted out; and instantly regretted it, as Jim's attention refocused onto her.

"Well, well…" Jim began; but paused, looking straight at Aelita. Aelita felt rather small; to have Jim staring down at you with such a focused look was quite unnerving. Then she realised; he wasn't looking at her, but her hands.

Aelita moved quickly, but Jim was faster; and before she could begin to conceal the object, he had plucked it from her grip and was examining it closely. Next to her, Aelita felt rather than saw Jeremie take an aggressive step forwards.

"What is this thing?" Jim asked; suspicion evident in his voice. He turned the smoke grenade this way and that, and even shook it next to his ear. "What's inside it?" He queried, almost as though he was asking the object rather than the people he had just taken it from; before he did what Jeremie and Aelita had both been dreading.

They just had time to cry out in unison, "No Jim! Don't!" before Jim slipped one of his large fingers through the ring and pulled hard on the plastic cap.

---------------

Once again they found themselves in the same dull office, once again in a huge heap of trouble. They sat in hard wooden chairs in the middle of the room, once again facing the Principle's desk; Jeremie glanced at Aelita beside him to see that she was once again staring at the floor, such that he couldn't see her expression.

There were differences from the last time though; firstly the Principle wasn't there, well he would be, but only after he had dealt with the rest of the school. The man standing guard over them wasn't Jim the PE teacher, hovering behind them with his Neanderthal-like slouch, but a younger man who stood tall and straight by the door and who proudly wore a clean police uniform; and through the window behind Delmus' desk, Jeremie could see one of the bright red fire engines still parked with its crew of fire-fighters reeling in unused hoses.

The door opened and Jeremie turned to the a very harried looking Delmus and Jim enter the room; Jim's clothes and face were covered in patches of black, not surprising seeing that he had been looking at the smoke grenade closely when it went off, though Jeremie realised that he and Aelita hadn't escaped the dormitories completely clean either.

The Principle marched aggressively into the room, holding a plastic bag which he slammed down on his desk with a metallic clang. Jeremie flinched, as he realised guiltily that the bag must contain the remnants of the smoke grenade, recovered by the firemen. Jeremie had never seen the Principle so look so angry, normally he was a strict but friendly man who was perfectly peaceful; but today he looked potentially violent.

Jeremie swiftly returned his gaze to the floor. If he had not been so frightened he would've reflected that the smoke grenade had worked rather well, almost too well in fact; after no more than two seconds it had left them completely unable to see something that was not right in front of them.

"You may wait outside." Delmus said; it took Jeremie a moment to realise that he must be talking to the police officer, a moment during which he realised that his voice sounded strained.

There was the click of the door as the officer exited, and a long silence followed; during which no one spoke. Jeremie assumed that Delmus was using this time to calm down, but he didn't want to look up to check; it was safer to simply continue staring at the floor.

"You two have broken school rules for the last time." Delmus finally said; both Jeremie and Aelita looked up at this dramatic announcement, to see the Principle sitting in his chair with a face more serious than they had ever seen. Jeremie felt something tighten painfully in his stomach. "The production of dangerous items in the school is the gravest of offences, and as such from this point onwards you are both suspended from this school. I will be calling your parents and, in Miss Stone's case, De La Robbia's parents."

"But sir." Jeremie spoke up; and instantly faltered as Delmus' scowl turned towards him; but Delmus did not shout him down as he had feared. This was something that gave him just enough courage to continue. "Sir, Aelita had nothing to do with this; she didn't know about it until this morning."

"Even if that is true," Delmus responded, "then there is nothing I can do about it now. The rules you have broken mean that it will not be I to punish you, but the Board of Governors."

Jeremie felt his heart sink; it had been a last ditch effort and he had known it wouldn't work, but he had still had some hope. Now though, he felt completely defeated, even after all they'd done against Xana; he couldn't see a way out of this. It surprised him, therefore, when Aelita spoke.

"But sir." She said, her voice sounded uneven. "Odd's- Well, that is… my Aunt and Uncle are on holiday at the moment, so you won't be able to reach them."

"Oh, is that so?" Delmus said sarcastically, "Then I suppose we'll try right now, just to be sure." And he rifled quickly through a few pieces of paper on his desk, before seemingly finding the one he wanted. He placed this one on top of the others and read something off it, before taking up the phone receiver and dialling.

Jeremie knew what Aelita was trying to do, and he prayed it would work. If it did then it might just by them enough time to escape to the factory; from there they could launch a return to the past and stop this from ever happening.

"Hello?" Delmus said into the receiver, "Hello, this is Principle Delmus here from Kadic Academy; I'm calling regarding an urgent matter to do with your niece, if you could call the school the moment you get back, thank you."

Jeremie had to restrain the urge to leap into the air and shout, as Delmus replaced the receiver. Instead he satisfied himself by shooting a quick glance at Aelita, who was looking extremely relieved.

"It seems that they are out, and I got an answering machine." The Principle said; a hint of annoyance detectable in his voice. "However, I will be trying again tomorrow so-"

Delmus was cut off at that moment as the door burst open and half a dozen people poured into the room, which instantly became filled with the noise of everyone trying to talk at once. There was a young man in a black suit carrying a clipboard, who sprang into the room first and began trying to engage the Jim in conversation, shaking his hand vigorously; a woman entered, whom Jeremie recognised as being the school secretary who wore a harried expression and began talking to the Principle, shaking her head; the third was a bemused looking woman with purple hair sporting a pink scarf, who slid into a corner of the room by the principle's desk and said nothing; and the last three were all uniformed police officers, one of which had previously been guarding the door, who were all talking to each other apparently equally confused.

During the chaos, Jeremie exchanged a confused look with Aelita; the whole situation seemed like madness.

"QUIET!" Delmus' voice rose above the noise, shouting louder than anybody had ever heard him do so before; yet it seemed to work as the whole room fell into silence. He stood above his desk, and Jeremie would admit that he looked more a figure of authority than anyone else in the room could. "What is going on here? Who are you?" he demanded of the man in the suit.

"Ah, yes, introductions." The man said, seemingly absent-mindedly; "I'm Detective Inspector Jones and…" He paused, looking at Jeremie and Aelita, "Are these them?" He looked quickly at the clipboard he was carrying.

"What?" Delmus' voice had calmed, he now looked simply confused.

"Yes! They are! Excellent!" exclaimed the Detective triumphantly, looking up from his clipboard with a smile on his face. He stepped into the corner of the room and pulled the young woman with the pink scarf forward, so that all could see her.

"Right then." The Detective's voice became suddenly very serious, as he spoke to the woman. "Miss, do you recognise either of these two?" He asked indicating Jeremie and Aelita.

"No." The woman responded simply, still wearing a bemused expression.

"And you two," The Detective suddenly turned to Jeremie and Aelita, "Do you recognise this woman?" They exchanged another quick, confused glance before shaking their heads.

"What is this?" Jim asked from the corner, but the Detective completely ignored him.

"Well then, allow me to introduce you. These are Jeremie Belpois and Aelita Stones…" The Detective indicated them as he said their names, "…and this…" he pointed to the young woman, "…is Mrs. De La Robbia."

* * *

_I'll see what I can do about getting the next chapter here soon; but stuff has a habit of happening._

_Oh, and I'm aware that 'Detective Inspector' is not a french sounding police rank; this guy is on loan from the London Metropolitan Police as part of an officer exchange program. _


End file.
